Artist:  Jennifer Knapp
Title:  Letting Go
Label:  Graylin

Her music hasn't really changed all that much, but the message has, and that may be enough to sway the faithful from tuning in.

In the entertainment biz, artists are encouraged to always leave the audience wanting more, and that's exactly what singer/songwriter Jennifer Knapp did when she unexpectedly disappeared from the music scene back in 2003.

Considering the sheer proximity between her three hit records, Kansas, Lay It Down and The Way I Am, and the requisite non-stop touring that accompanies their release, it's not surprising that Knapp was a little tapped out from the rock 'n' roll life. So instead of continuing with business as usual, she went on hiatus.

But as time passed and her fans weren't quite sure when—or if—she'd ever return, well, naturally the rumor mill went into overdrive. And with Knapp's recent revelation that she's been in a same-sex relationship since 2002, the rumblings that had been rampant in Nashville for years now had finally been confirmed.

After spending some time traveling and reflecting (and even calling Australia home for a while), Knapp is back with her first album in eight years, Letting Go—a collection of folky, soul-searching songs that candidly explore everything from faith to doubt to falling in love. And for the first time in her career, her work isn't being marketed specifically to a Christian audience.

With an underlying premise of being "honest" about where she's at, the songs on Letting Go are about Knapp's complicated journey of reconciling her belief in God and her sexuality.

"I think the overriding thing is we understand people of faith are on a journey and on a walk, and that no matter whether it's our sexuality—gay, straight, premarital, adulterous, whatever form—that we come in contact as human beings with our sexuality and actually funnel that through our faith," Knapp said in a recent interview with Relevant. "It's constantly the pursuit of my own to consistently be honest about where I'm at."

This theme—of trying to make sense of the Church's expectations in light of her lifestyle—color many of the songs on Letting Go.

With "Inside," Knapp clearly addresses the naysayers: "I know they'll bury me before they hear the whole story/Even if they do well, I know they won't care to/Chalk it up to one mistake, or God forbid, they give me grace/Well, who is the he—do they think they are?"

Then with "Fallen," an unabashed love song, she takes the conversation a bit further and seems to reject anyone who'd describe her as just that—fallen: "Even though they say we have fallen/Doesn't mean that I won't do it twice/Given every second chance/I choose to be with you tonight."

Yet while the more worshipful focus of albums' past is gone, faith still plays a significant role in her songwriting. Whether it's the gritty title track that describes a full-on battle between her, God and fellow believers or the gentler strains of "Want for Nothing," which plays out like an intimate, heartfelt prayer, Knapp is for better or worse, working through what it means to be a believer when you've made questionable choices.

"I'm tired of spending hours and hours thinking about what if scenarios—what if nobody wants it, what if everybody is mad, what if I'm a complete disappointment," Knapp told Christianity Today. "Now it's, Here it is. I've got to let it go. That's one of the frustrating parts of my Christian walk, the scenario that if I don't get it right, that I've somehow failed God and failed my faith." 


**This review first published on June 2, 2010.